Friday, June 6, 2008

STITCHING and INKING and STAMPING-OH MY!

Linda here today or maybe you recognize me more by lbpost since that has been my online identity for a very long time.

My goal is to share three things with you today.ONE - pictures of my newest grandson since that is what Grandma's get to do.TWO - the wonders of the Scor-Pal tool.THREE - my addiction to those three techniques mentioned in my title, machine sewing, inking the edges of basically everything and stamping.

So, if you don't already have a Scor-Pal, run, don't walk to your nearest store to get one for yourself. If you don't have a store, let your fingers do the walking and find an online store.

When I first heard of a tool that helped you make a score line to create cards I could NOT figure out why I would want one! I have folded my own card bases for years and years and I do just fine, thank you. That was before I used one! I'm going to say that the greater advantage to this tool is the ease with which you can make accordion or gate folds (thus my project for today). It is also amazing how quickly you can make your own envelope and how easy it is to make embossed lines on a card or layout. BUT, once you have it, you will reach for it for every card because it is so quick, easy and looks so nice.The tool pictured comes with it's own handy dandy scoring tool with it's own handy dandy storage place. In an instant you have the tool in your hand and in an instant, when you are finished with it, it goes right back in place for the next time. That alone is amazing since you don't have to remember where you put that thing the last time you got creative in your new storage system and at that time you thought you thought of the best place which now for the life of you you can't find!!! Been there???

There are measurements all along the top of the tool and score lines to go with each measurement so if you want to do something like an accordion folded anything, you have all the folds you need almost in an instant and they are all exactly where they should be. No more reaching for a ruler and a pencil and making little marks and trying to get each section even, etc. OK, enough of that! You will like this tool.

OK, so next is that cute grandson I mentioned. Why he wasn't the first thing, I'm not sure, but my little card holds a few little pictures of him. This could be a birth announcement or just a creative way to send Grandma or Auntie or whoever a little glimpse into this new life. I decided a fun way to do that would be a card with a mini accordion folded card on the front, almost like a mini album.Let's talk about my blue, dotted background for a minute and this is where the stamping and inking come in. I wanted a soft, blue baby look but I didn't want it to be too feminine. Since I didn't feel I had a piece of patterned paper that would give me the look I wanted, I decided on, you guessed it, stamping and inking. I stamped my dot background stamp with white ink and embossed that with white embossing powder on white cardstock. I just love the Fluid Chalk stamp pads by Clearsnap. I have every color in the Cat's Eye size. This ink and in this size of a container make them just perfect for "coloring" a whole piece of paper, not just the edges which I am most likely to do. Rub the ink pad directly to the paper and just continue rubbing it in a circular motion until every single inch of the paper is your new color. When finished, you only have to take a kleenex or soft rag and buff the paper. This will remove any ink from the embossed dots and this will also make them shine. I now have a piece of paper like what I had in mind. I backed that with another piece of paper that I cut with my scallop scissors and I just had to "finish" my look with some inking along the scallop edges and I just had to do a row of machine, zig zag sewing around the outside border of the card.

I wanted each section to be 3" across and I wanted three sections so I cut my strip of white cardstock and used the Scor-Pal tool to make two fold lines. Again with those markings across the top, this took seconds.

I added several rub-on words and phrases and inked the edges of my little accordion portion. I knew I wanted to be able to tie this shut with a ribbon so when I added my accordion piece to the card, I added my length of ribbon behind that, bringing the ends to the front of the card. Now I could tie a bow on the front side that would serve to hold my little photo section shut and it is easily untied to reveal the row of photos on the inside.This same idea could be translate to other themes. This makes a great way to say thank you to someone for their hospitality if you took a few photos while you were with them. How about something related to a graduation?

Oh Linda that is just the sweetest card what a great way to create your own background. I've never event hought of that but now I'm thinking I could use my chicken wire stamp which a lovely lady sent me :-) and you have a new grandson? How gorgeous is he.

Linda: This project is fantastic and that little guy is so precious, i love the way you showcased him in the mini alblum, very creative and the instructions you gave for the project are just great. That scorpal sounds like a wonderful tool, must be one for my xmas wish list..